An important factor in using various ingredients in the food industry is the ability to keep such ingredients in free-flowing form. For example, substances that adhere or otherwise block together must be mechanically broken apart or separated in an additional processing step in order to be added as an ingredient in a mixture. Consequently, many food products have anti-caking or anti-blocking agents added to their respective compositions in order to maintain the substances in free-flowing form. Further, other substances must be stored at specific temperatures or humidity levels to prevent caking or blocking.
In addition to the foregoing, some food substances, such as licorice, for example, cannot presently be easily maintained in a free-flowing form. As should be understood, licorice is a widely used flavoring ingredient in the food, tobacco, pharmaceutical, and fragrance industries. In this regard, licorice is presently commercially available in three states: solid blocks; paste; and spray-dried forms. While these three forms of licorice are widely used in the market segments noted above, they do have individual shortcomings in that none of the specific forms have all the physical characteristics which are desired for ingredients which are employed in each of the aforementioned industries.
For example, the block form of licorice is very cumbersome to work with. In this regard, pieces must be broken off the block, as by chiseling, crushing, or the like, in order to be added to a given preparation. This method, of course, results in the formation of individual pieces having little consistency with respect to size, shape, surface area, or weight. Consequently, obtaining specific amounts of licorice from blocks to be added to a preparation is not only laborious, but inexact. Also, the individual pieces obtained from the large block have a propensity to adhere to each other, thereby further complicating the preparation of a composition.
Further, the paste form of licorice extract is a thick, viscous semi-solid that is also difficult to handle. Thus, once again, removing precise amounts of the paste is not a simple process. Moreover, this form of licorice extract is considered, under some environmental conditions, to be quite messy, making the packaging of same very difficult.
Still further, the spray-dried form of the licorice extract noted above, is essentially provided in a powdered state, but still this form has several shortcomings that detract from its usefulness. In this regard, this form of licorice is hygroscopic and, consequently, is very susceptible to caking into a mass having characteristics little different from the block form. Thus, the spray-dried form must be kept in an environment with low humidity. This processing step, of course, adds to the cost of processing the licorice.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a method for producing a free-flowing form of licorice that is easily packaged, not susceptible to caking, and further, does not require the utilization of a closely regulated environment.